Sea Otter

Day one
I arrived at Sea Otter on Friday after a 4-5 hour drive. I had to skip school on Friday but that was fine. I was so excited I was hopping around on my bike. When my dad, mom and I went into the festival it was chaos.We looked around the vendors and then I went to the pump track.There it was even more chaotic. After awhile, we went and got lunch from California Pizza and sat with Yvette Crockell. I didn't want to eat too much because I was saving room for Bubba Gumps that night. Yum! Then I got to demo a carbon Giant XTC on the pump truck. It was incredible but sadly I had to give it back. We went over to the dual slalom course and watched my friend Brandon in the qualifier for dual slalom. That was really fun to watch.

Day two
We had breakfast at the hotel and then my dad and I went for a pre-ride on part of the xc course so I could see what it was like. After that, we put the bikes in valet and went over to watch some downhill. I saw my friends Emily and Chantal on their runs. They are really fast. We also watched the pros qualify at dual slalom. I had a really good tri tip sandwich and then I got to cheer on my RC friends - Hank, Sara and Janell during their cyclocross races. That was really fun. I got to go to the ocean that night and then headed back to the hotel early.



Day three
I woke up and had a big breakfast before leaving for Sea Otter. When I got there, my dad made sure my bike was good and my mom made sure my race food was good. Then I went and warmed up. I was racing in the 13/14 boys class. When the race began, I was shuffled to the back. The first part of the course was on the Laguna Seca track. I had to work hard to stay with the main group. There was a lot of steep ascents and descents. Since the marine layer stuck around longer, I had put full finger gloves on. That was a bad idea because half way through the race, while riding, I had to take them off. Now I was riding bare handed. About mile 13, I had to go down hurl hill and that was fun. I felt a sigh of relief when I sprinted across the finish. I thought three things when I finished 1)That was awesome, 2) that will be a nice looking race bib on my wall, and 3) I'm really tired. I beat my goal of 1:45, with a finish of 1:37, and ended up 25th in a class of almost all 13/14 yr old boys. I thank Sea Otter for an awesome course and Roseville Cyclery for the awesome bike. Also, Julie Young and O2Fitness for the great training.